1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to labels used on containers, and in particular to a label that is used on a container for pharmaceuticals and the like where the label confirms the contents of the container.
2. Scope of the Prior Art
The most popular method of dispensing pharmaceuticals through prescriptions requires a pharmacist. A pharmacist is trained in various disciplines, including pharmacology, to assist a physician in treating patients using the numerous different pharmaceuticals available in the market. Typically, a physician will examine a patient at a doctor's office or in the hospital and diagnose an ailment or illness. If the ailment can be treated by one or more different pharmaceuticals, the physician will write a prescription or order on a piece of paper, commonly known as a script, and give the script to the patient. The patient then takes the script to any number of pharmacies, including mail-order pharmacies, to be filled. The pharmacist will then review the script and dispense the pharmaceutical according to the doctor's instructions, thereby filling the prescription
The script includes the doctor's name, the patient's name, the name of the pharmaceutical prescribed, the dosage, and instructions on how and when to take the pharmaceutical. When the pharmacist renews the prescription, it is often compared with the patient's other prescriptions to ensure that there are no drug interferences and the like with the new prescription. If it is acceptable to dispense the pharmaceutical to the patient, the pharmacist will locate the pharmaceutical from the supply in the pharmacy that corresponds to the prescription and prepare the pharmaceutical for dispensing. Often, the pharmaceutical will require a container, such as pill bottle for liquid. Other pharmaceuticals are dispensed in prepackaged or preassembled boxes and the like for dispensing. For those prescriptions that require bottles of any nature, the pharmacist will put the pharmaceutical in the bottle.
As a part of the dispensing process, the pharmacist will print a label that will have all the relevant information about the written prescription including the patient's name, doctor's name, pharmaceutical's name, dosage, and instructions for taking the pharmaceutical. Other information, such as general information about the pharmaceutical, can also be prepared for the patient. Once the pharmacist has completed preparing the container, if one is necessary, the label is attached to the specifically filled container or to the preassembled container, and dispensed to the patient. In order to ensure that the correct pharmaceutical is dispensed to the patient, the pharmacist has a variety of systems and methodologies to check the dispensing process. In addition, many types of dispensing assistance systems have been developed to aid the pharmacist in correctly and efficiently dispensing pharmaceuticals according to physician's instructions. Many of those dispensing assistance systems use a computer, and other equipment, as a primary component.
It is also possible for a prescription to be filled by a physician at the physician's office. For example, this occurs when a physician gives a patient a sample. In many jurisdictions, a physician can also dispense pharmaceuticals in much the same manner as a pharmacist does. In order to assist physician offices in dispensing pharmaceuticals, various different systems have been developed, including the TouchScript™ System by Allscripts, Inc., the assignee of this application. Systems like the TouchScript System use a computer system to generate a prescription that will then be filled by any number of different dispensing units including the physician's office, a local pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy, an Internet-based pharmacy, and the like.
To use the computer-based system to write a prescription, the system is designed to prompt the physician to obtain all the necessary information for the prescription. The system can be designed so that many different physicians in one office can use it. To start, the physician initiates the system by using the required logon sequence. As a part of the logon sequence, the physician uses a specific identification code so that only those individuals permitted to write prescriptions use the system. Once the physician has logged onto the system and it is confirmed that the physician is an authorized user, the physician is prompted to write the prescription. Such prompts can be menu-based or any other type of now known or future known types of programming techniques.
The system initially prompts the physician for the name of the patient, The patient's name can be filled in by using a keyboard or the like, or the name can be selected from a list of current patients or patients scheduled for the day. Once the patient is selected, the computer system accesses the patient's prescription records, if available, and other patient information such as insurance information and other relevant health information. The information accessible to the physician depends on the information available, the configuration of the computer system and the accessibility of the information. If prescription information is available, the physician can select a previously written prescription or write a new prescription. If a previously written prescription is to be renewed, the system prompts the physician; the prescription is prepared using the information already entered into the system by the physician. A script can then be printed to be filled by an outside pharmacy, or the physician's office can access the new prescription record and the office can fill the prescription.
If the physician needs to write a new prescription, computer systems have been designed to obtain all the necessary information. As stated, the system has already obtained the physician's and patient's names. The system can be configured to obtain the diagnosis of the patient. Accordingly, the physician is prompted to input that diagnosis, or to select the diagnosis from a list of commonly made diagnoses for that physician or patient. Once the diagnosis is selected, the system can limit the number of available pharmaceuticals to those that are commonly used to treat the diagnosis. The physician then chooses one of the listed pharmaceuticals. Of course, the physician can override the pharmaceutical selections offered by the system or can select a pharmaceutical without having to enter a diagnosis into the system. When the pharmaceutical is selected, the system is configured to enter in the other relevant information for the prescription, such as the dosage and instructions for when and how to take the pharmaceutical.
Once the prescription is complete and it is the physician's office that will dispense the pharmaceutical, the prescription record will be accessed. Typically, the physician's office is stocked with pharmaceuticals predispensed into containers such that the containers are filled with the most common pharmaceuticals, dosages, and instructions. The container has a preapplied label on it that indicates its contents. In this scenario, the correct container is selected for the prescription and given to the patient. In order to make sure that the patient has all the correct information about the prescription and the pharmaceutical, a label for the bottle and relevant information are printed. The label and the pharmaceutical information can be printed on one sheet of paper that is designed for this purpose and generally has rectangular labels on the top portion of the paper. The remainder of the paper can be any sort of paper. When the prescription information is printed, the prescription label is removed and applied to the container. The container can be configured with a pattern on it so that the label is correctly applied thereto. The container and the remainder of the paper are given to the patient.
For inventory control purposes at the physician's office, the computer-based dispensing system uses coded predispensed containers, which are coded using barcodes or other known and to be developed types of electronically readable codes. The barcodes can be designed to indicate multiple features of the container and the pharmaceutical, such as the contents of the container, the expiration of the pharmaceutical, the lot number, and other relevant information. In order to read the codes, a barcode reader, or other suitable device, is installed at the physician's office. When the physician's office dispenses the pharmaceutical, the dispenser uses the barcode reader to read the barcode on the container so that the inventory portion the system will deduct the container from the inventory.
With the various systems available, it is not possible to verify that the label is placed on the bottle containing the pharmaceutical prescribed and mentioned on the script. Such a mechanism would ensure that the dispenser chose the correct pharmaceutical from those available. Within the constraints of presently available systems, the dispenser checks the container and the label to ensure that everything is dispensed properly. The patient can also check the container and the label.
Barcodes also have many other applications for medical purposes beyond dispensing pharmaceuticals. One such barcode application is for ensuring the drawn blood is identified to the correct patient or donor. In such an application, one barcode number is designated for a patient/donor and a series of barcodes corresponding to that number are printed. The series of barcodes can be printed on a number of labels so that each label can be applied to the number of items, such as vials, pouches, forms, etc. The barcodes are then read at various times to ensure that the vial, pouch, form, etc. is correct and to verify that an item has not been lost or misplaced.
The system of using the series of barcodes having the same code and applied to various different items can be used for other purposes, such as inventory control and tracking an item through a manufacturing process. In those applications and processes, many items have been designated with codes that are written in an electronically readable format. It would be beneficial that when products are modified in any way and new codes given to a product, which are commonly given designated in barcodes, where a new barcode or label is applied to the product that a mechanism be developed to check that the label and the product correspond. Such arrangements are useful for quality control, inventory, and other purposes.